Innocent
by littlemissauthor
Summary: This is a continuation of the book Quad, mainly about Sage and Perry. Theo's video provides new evidence about the murder on the quad.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a continuation of the end of the book Quad. Enjoy! Please review!!!!**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Quad. How sad. =(**

Sage Wood's POV

Sage sobbed, quivering with weakness. A slight breeze blew, ruffling the grass by her knees. Slowly, the kids began to emerge from their hiding places, looking around warily, but Sage took no notice of them. She heard Nicole McClintock hurling insults at her Paisley, but was too preoccupied sobbing.

The police knelt down and ripped Paisley from the ground, clicking the handcuffs around her wrists.

"No! Wait!" Sage pleaded, throwing her arms up. "No, please, it's a misunderstanding --" She reached to grab the nearest policeman's arm in pleading.

He jerked away. "Nothing we can do about it now. Paisley Reed, you are under arrest."

Sage watched as they dragged her friend away, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. The breeze blew her hair around her face, strands sticking to the hot tear stains on her cheeks. Suddenly, Sage had never felt so alone.

She noticed a hand on her shoulder. When she whipped around, she saw it was Ranger.

"What do you want?" she hissed, feeling hostile.

"I'm sorry," he said, then walked away.

Sage stared off after him in awe. I'm sorry? That's it? That only made her feel worse. She looked around and saw Ken hugging Hayley as she wailed, covered in blood.

Brittany's blood.

Sage could not believe it. A group of police officers was gathered around Brittany's lifeless body. Her murdered body. Murdered by Paisley Reed.

No.

Somehow, Sage couldn't believe it. She didn't understand -- Paisley was harmless, she had always been. Sage stared up at Stone, who was frozen, just standing there, his face expressionless. She saw Christopher crying. But she didn't do anything. Instead, she walked away.

Walked away from the unthinkable.

She was shivering -- not because she was cold, because she was afraid. Afraid of everything. Paisley's words echoed in her mind, "Why? Why do people have to be so mean?"

_Because they're humans with flaws. A lot of flaws, _Sage thought.

She reached the front of the school. The area was a mob of crying kids, worried parents, and frustrated police. S.W.A.T. members were gathered around a van, whispering among one another.

"Sage!" someone called. It was her mother. She wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her tight. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"I'm not okay," Sage pushed her mother away.

"What?" her mother stared at her with wide, anxious eyes.

"Paisley did it," Sage said gravely. "She killed Brittany. She had the gun --" She couldn't bare to say anymore.

"Sage," her mother whispered. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

Sage swallowed hard. She didn't want to leave. She didn't know why, but for some reason she just wanted to stay. Something was tugging her to. But she complied, and followed her mother to their car.

She was still shaking with visible fear even as her mother pulled away.

"Sage, honey, I know it was traumatic, what you just witnessed. But it's going to be okay."

"No, it's not. Paisley is my friend. And now she's going to be in jail!" Her lip quivered.

Her mother didn't say anything, only pursed her lips and gripped the steering wheel harder.

"Sage, I'm pulling you out of school for a couple of days."

"No!" Sage countered immediately. "It'll be closed for a while anyway. For evidence and stuff." _Evidence of a murder._

Her mother sighed, but did not object.

The rest of the ride home was quiet. Sage counted the trees as they passed. The shaking had stopped, but not the pounding of her heart, not the thoughts racing through her head. Sage tried everything to take her mind off of it. She studied the license plates of the cars in front of her. She watched crows flying back and forth across the sky. She tried to find pictures in the clouds.

The car ride seemed to last forever.

When they finally reached her house, it was like one hundred pounds had been lifted from her shoulders. One hundred pounds of the knowledge that her best friend had just killed someone.

Her mother opened the door and Sage ran up to her bedroom. She slammed the door and locked it, then laid on her bed on her stomach, face buried in her pillow, and cried. Cried like she never had before.


	2. Chapter 2

Perry's POV

Perry's heart thudded in his chest. He was sitting in his room, iPod in his ears, but he could not hear the music, even with the volume turned all the way up. He was staring at nothing, just thinking.

He couldn't forget what had happened today. He couldn't forget the sound, the pops of the gun. Of Paisley's gun.

Well, it wasn't _Paisley's _gun.

He turned over on his side, not allowing the thought to intrude. Suddenly, his phone rang.

He picked it up. "What?" he snapped hotly.

"Perry?" It was Christopher.

Ugh. He really didn't need to deal with him right now.

"Yeah?" he said, trying to tone down the hostility in his voice.

"I was just calling…" Christopher didn't need to finish.

"You were calling to check up on me, yeah, I know," Perry said, pressing Pause on his iPod.

"I thought you might, you know, want to talk about what happened today," Christopher said, sounding hurt.

"Not really," Perry said. "But I know you do. So talk. I'll listen."

Well, not really.

He pressed Play. And Christopher's voice started right in tune with the song.

"I just, like, felt so bad for poor Paisley," he said. "I can't imagine how she must've been feeling…oh, the poor girl. She was so nice. Why do bad things happen to good people, Perry?"

Perry wasn't listening.

"Perry?"

"Oh, um…I'm sorry?" Perry turned the volume down.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?"

"That's just the way of it, I guess." Perry angled the phone between his ear and chin, trying to lay on his side.

"Oh, God…and did you hear what she was saying?"

"Yeah, I know." Perry didn't actually hear her. He was on the other side of the quad, he couldn't hear her.

"Maybe she was already crazy," Christopher continued. "Maybe she was, you know, like, ready to crack."

Perry bit down on his tongue, trying not to say anything. All he mumbled was a pained, "Mm-hmm."

"You okay?"

"No." Perry said. "Look. I'm tired, okay? I'm going to try and sleep."

"Oh. Okay," Christopher said dejectedly. "Bye."

"Bye."

Perry hung up the phone and switched off his iPod. Glancing at the clock, he saw it was around ten. He turned off the light and rolled over onto his back. He tried to close his eyes, but they refused to cooperate, and he lay there staring at an old water stain in his ceiling. It was last summer when his ceiling started leaking. The roofers had come, but Perry had never painted over the stain. It was shaped sort of like a rounded star.

He lay in his bed for another two hours; then he couldn't take it anymore. He walked stealthily and silently down the stairs and out the door.

It was cool outside. There were no clouds, and the stars and moon were luminescent. Perry started walking. He wasn't sure where he was going, but his steps led him straight to school. To the quad.

He walked around the familiar paths, stood where Paisley had been arrested. The whole place was lined with yellow "Do not cross" tape, but Perry stepped over it and right into the crime scene.

He was staring at the place where Brittany was murdered. He didn't cross the yellow tape there, but he could still see some spots of blood where she had fallen.

Sighing, he listened to the insects chirping away, concealed by the darkness. He closed his eyes, imagining the party.

The party that had triggered it all.

"Hey."

A voice split the peacefulness, and Perry whipped around. But it was only Ranger, walking toward him, his long shadow cast by the moon. Perry grit his teeth, managing a stiff nod.

Ranger smiled and jerked his thumb back toward the yellow tape.

"Pretty useless, huh?"

He nodded again.

"Why are you here?" Ranger asked kindly.

But Perry was hostile. "I could ask you the same question."

But Ranger only laughed, not troubled at all by Perry's enmity.

"You could, but that'd be pretty…I don't know. Obvious, huh? I've done worse things than cross a police line."

Perry stiffened. "Mm-hmm."

"Weird, isn't it? This whole thing? Who'd guess Paisley Reed would be the one to crack?" He laughed again. "Well, I guess she wasn't all there to begin with. You ever see her car? With the gum wrappers?"

Perry nodded. He had seen Paisley's car. She'd been hoping to finish coating it in silver paper eventually. Now she would never be able to. Perry wondered how long Paisley would be in jail for. She wouldn't get off easy with this.

Perry wondered what it was like to walk around with the knowledge that you'd killed somebody.

"I'm leaving now," Perry announced and walked away. He was aware of Ranger watching him, but he didn't care. He couldn't cry in front of Ranger.

He knew what that knowledge would feel like.


	3. Chapter 3

Nicole's POV

**I know this isn't that good so far, but please keep reading, I promise it'll get better!!! Review please!! =D**

Nicole ran the brush through her silky hair. She was sitting on the floor of her cousin Emily's house. She and Emily were close, and she needed to be with her right now. She needed to vent. She needed to bad-mouth that stupid Paisley Reed.

Nicole set down the brush and tried for a moment to take her mind off everything. She looked around at Emily's pristine room. Her carpet was a spotless cream, and everything else was white. Her desk, the freshly painted walls, even the corkboard tacked with millions of pictures. The only color was mainly from the vanity table, which was also white, but specked with thousands of shades of lipstick, nail polish, and eye shadow.

Emily had gone downstairs to get Nicole some "comfort food" (and of course she wouldn't tell Nicole what it was), so Nicole sat at the vanity table and plucked a bottle of cherry red nail polish off the smooth counter. She uncapped the bottle and ran the smooth brush along her nail.

Nicole didn't know how she was going to get along without Brittany. Who would she gossip with? Who would tell her that her hair was messed up? Who would constantly gush over her clothes? There were other girls, of course, but it wasn't the same without Brittany. Ugh. Cheerleading would be _so _boring.

Nicole intended to hide her grieving. When people asked, she planned to smile and brush it off as nothing, pretend it didn't bother her. Which was such a lie.

Nicole frowned as the brush painted the side of her finger. She had never worried about lying before. So why was she worried now?

"Okay, Nicole!" Emily said in a sing-song voice as she bounced into the room. Nicole saw she was holding a giant ice cream sundae, with hot fudge, sprinkles, whipped cream, and _two _maraschino cherries on top. She handed Nicole the bowl.

"Thanks, Emily," Nicole said, setting the bowl on the counter of the vanity table. "That's so nice of you, but I'm watching my calories."

Emily scoffed. "Oh, come _awn._ Don't give me that."

Nicole shrugged.

"Fine. Then I'll make you eat it."

Nicole didn't want to give Emily the satisfaction, so she spooned some into her mouth.

"That's my girl," Emily grinned. "So. Paisley Reed's her name, right? Don't worry about her. They'll take good care of her in prison. So sad. There won't be another loser stinking up the hallways at your school. Oh, she will be missed terribly!" Emily had the sarcasm turned on high.

Nicole managed a wane smile. "She _was such _a freak, I'm not kidding. I mean, like, who picked out her clothes? Her mom? And that cami she wore at the party…_obviously _polyester."

Emily blinked. "You said it was sort of like the yellow one you have."

"No. It had, like, these giant buttons on it. It was disgusting."

Secretly, Nicole had liked the cami…sort of. She would have liked it better if someone else -- anyone rather than Paisley Reed -- had been wearing it.

Nicole _harrumph_ed and ate some more ice cream.

She was going to pay. They were all going to pay. Hayley too. How could Stone have wanted to date Hayley -- or Paisley, even! -- when he could've had Brittany? She was so much better than either of those losers.

"I'm going to get her back," Nicole said.

Emily's brow furrowed. "How? She's kind of in jail at the moment. And will be in prison soon enough."

"Not her best friend," Nicole said, suddenly remembering Sage. Sage, a timid little mouse, afraid of parties. Afraid of her shadow. So what would she do if Nicole suddenly…well, announced to the school…that Sage did something. Something bad. Her precious little Paisley wouldn't be there to see it.

Nicole sighed. And neither would Brittany.

"Listen, sweetie." Emily scooted closer to her cousin. "Don't let those bitches get you down. They're losers, all right? And they'll never been anything more." She hugged Nicole. "You do what you have to do. But remember -- you're _so _much better than any of them."

Nicole smirked. That was _so _true.


End file.
